1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle, and more particularly, to a vehicle provided with an electrically heated catalyst that purifies exhaust gas of an engine, as well as to control method of such a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-321645 (JP 5-321645 A) describes technology in which, in a vehicle provided with an internal combustion engine and an Electrically Heated Catalyst (EHC) that purifies exhaust gas of the internal combustion engine, when it is determined that it is necessary to heat the EHC while the engine is stopped, the EHC starts to be energized after calculating an energizing time required to raise the EHC temperature to an activation temperature based on the EHC temperature before the internal combustion, engine is started, and the EHC stops being energized when the energizing time has passed after the EHC started to be energized.
With the technology described in JP 5-321645 A, the EHC energizing time is determined based on the EHC temperature. Therefore, it is difficult to energize the EHC taking into account (anticipating) a vehicle running pattern from the time the EHC starts to be energized until the internal combustion engine is actually started. Therefore, the EHC temperature may end up dropping due to heat loss if the internal combustion engine is not started for a while even after the EHC has stopped being energized. If the internal combustion engine is started in this state, exhaust gas purifying performance may be difficult to ensure.